1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to smart cards and other authorization, authentication and access cards, and particularly to a smart card with random temporary account number generation for generating random temporary account numbers associated with the card, each temporary account number only being used for a single transaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Credit card theft and fraud is responsible for millions of dollars of loss to both consumers and industry each year. When a credit card is either lost or stolen, someone other than the authorized user of the credit card can use the card for point-of-sale transactions until the credit card is canceled. Although credit cards include a signature strip, these signatures are rarely checked and can be easily forged. It would be desirable to provide an authentication system linked to the actual card at the point of sale.
In recent years, shopping over the Internet has become common in a large percentage of homes and businesses. Online shopping does not require the usage of a physical credit card, as most systems merely require the input of the credit card account number and expiration date. Thus, a thief merely needs knowledge of the authorized user's account number to perform fraudulent transactions. It would be desirable to provide a credit card with a temporary account number, with that account number being erased and replaced by a new account number following each transaction.
Thus, a smart card with random temporary account number generation solving the aforementioned problems is desired.